The 2017 Navy Midshipmen football team represented the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

in the

2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2017. The regular season began on August 26, 2017, and end ...

. The Midshipmen were led by tenth-year head coach

Ken Niumatalolo Kenneth Va'a Niumatalolo (born May 8, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of San Jose State. He was the head coach of the Naval Academy from 2007 to 2022, accumulating the most wins in program hist ...

and played their home games at

Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is an open-air stadium located off the campus of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Opened in 1959, it serves as the home stadium of the Navy Midshipmen Navy Midshipmen football, college f ...

. The Midshipmen competed as a member of the West Division of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

and were third-year members of the conference. They finished the season 7–6 overall and 4–4 in AAC play to tie for third place in the West Division. They were invited to the Military Bowl, where they defeated

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, 49–7.

Before the season

Spring practices

Navy held spring practices during March and April 2017.

During the season

On television

The 2017 Navy Midshipmen football team is featured in the miniseries, ''A Season With Navy Football'' on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

, which premiered on Tuesday September 5, 2017. It depicts daily life of Midshipmen football players and coaches at the

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

. Each episode reviews highlights of every football game played during the current season of Navy football, as the series narrator boasts, is "one of the most accomplished football programs in the country".

Schedule

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Depth chart

Depth Chart 2017
''True Freshman''
Double Position : *

Rankings

Game summaries

At Florida Atlantic

After a lightning delay, Navy ended the long night with a total of 345 yards. Also, Midshipmen quarterback Zack Abey, making his third start, rushed for 200 yards and passed for 100. This achievement made it the first time in Naval Academy history that a quarter has done so in a single game.

Tulane

With this victory, Navy has won their 15th straight regular season win playing at their home stadium. In addition to head coach Ken Niumatalolo's 79th career win at Navy, the most in Naval Academy history.

Cincinnati

With this victory, Navy Midshipmen set a Naval Academy record for 16 consecutive wins at home, making it the longest active regular season streak in the FBS. They also set a new record in Navy football history for the most rushing yards in a single game with 573. (This beat their previous record set on November 10, 2007, at

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

with 572 yards.)

At Tulsa

Air Force

With a stadium-record crowd, this victory earned the Midshipmen their best start since they went 5–0 in 2004. Game highlights include, Midshipmen slotback Malcolm Perry had two touchdowns; a 40-yard catch and a 91-yard touchdown run, the second longest TD run in Navy history. While quarterback

Zach Abey Zach Abey is an American football quarterback who attended the United States Naval Academy. He played quarterback and wide receiver for the Navy Midshipmen football team. College career 2015 season Abey entered the 2015 Navy Midshipmen football ...

ran for 214 yards and two touchdowns, rushing for 75 yards on one. Also the Midshipmen rushed for 400-plus yards in three straight games. The last team to do so was

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

with four straight games (1996).

At Memphis

UCF

At Temple

SMU

Navy slotback/quarterback Malcolm Perry had a breakout performance in for the injured but active quarterback Zach Abey. Perry rushed for 282 yards with 4 touchdowns in his first start at quarterback (third most in Naval Academy history). Also, fullback Anthony Gargiulo ran for a career-high 145 yards with a touchdown. Backup kicker J.R. Osborn kicked an 18-yard, game-winning field goal as time expired to give the Midshipmen the win in dramatic fashion. With this victory, Navy becomes bowl eligible for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons. It's also Navy's 35th win on Senior Day in the last four years, a milestone few schools have reached.

At Notre Dame

At Houston

Vs. Army

Vs. Virginia (Military Bowl)

With their fourth bowl game victory in five seasons, Navy ran the ball 76 times for 452 rushing yards and scored seven rushing touchdowns. All touchdowns came from quarterbacks Malcolm Perry and Zach Abey. Getting his third start at quarterback, Perry rushed for two touchdowns and led the Midshipmen with 114 rushing yards. Abey came into the game after Perry suffered a foot injury in the third quarter and scored five rushing touchdowns with 88 total yards. Abey became the fifth player in FBS and Military Bowl history to rush for five touchdowns in a FBS bowl game, joining

Barry Sanders Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football running back who played for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and in rushin ...

and

Kareem Hunt Kareem AJ Hunt (born August 6, 1995) is an American professional football running back for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Toledo Rockets and was selected by the Chiefs in the thi ...

References

{{Navy Midshipmen football navbox

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

Navy Midshipmen football seasons Military Bowl champion seasons

Navy Midshipmen football The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I Division I (NCAA)#Football Bowl Subdivision, FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) college football. The Naval Academy completed its final season as an NCA ...